The powder coating process explained
- The powder needs to be in a container that is deeper than the size of the jig, and large enough for the jig to easily fit into
- The lead needs to be warm before you dip it into the powder
- You need to "fluff" the powder, I use a pencil to stir the powder
- If the lead is not warm enough the powder won't stick
- If the lead is not warm enough the powder wont "melt"

If you really want to do it properly you will need a small oven to bake the jigs in for about 30-60 minutes, all excess powder coating will then drip off and the coating will become very very hard

At this stage I don't have a oven, but will get one in the next few months.

When it comes to powder coating jigheads, practice makes perfect, first practice on some old ball sinkers/

The process
- Heat jig up with a heatgun - around 25-30 seconds
- Swirl the jig through the powder coating powder
- Tap jig on the side of jar to get excess powder off
- Heat the jig with the heatgun again, making sure all the powder "melts"
- If you have an oven then bake in oven for 30-60 minuts
- Hang the jig to cool down

So now it's time to tie on some bucktail in which ever colours you prefer

In the beginning I tried to cut the "bucktail" just long enough so that I don't waste, but that creates other quality control issues
- you will have pieces that stick out
- the bucktail will pull out over time

See the pic below, notice the bucktail sticking out, you have to try to cut this with a blade WITHOUT cutting the thread, not worth the trouble !

I asked some questions and were given some suggestions that make the process easier and better.

DOUBLE the length of the bucktail, that solves the quality control issues.
- More on what to do later
If the tail is too long after tied just trim to desired length

I try to make about 5-10 jigs before I get to the epoxy coating part, reason
- every time I epoxy I throw away a small artists paintbrush
- the epoxy stays "liquid" long enough to seal the thread and put eyes on about 5 bucktail jigs

I suggest you mix in small quantities
I suggest you first seal the thread and then attach the eyes

Attaching eyes

When I started I did not believe that attaching eyes was worth the trouble, but was convinced otherwise

I have found that eyes are quite hard to find, and expensive aswell.

I bit the bullet and got some, and have to agree it does look good on lures

Eyes is very impotant. I know a couple of hardcore lure fisherman that if even his best lure loses a eye he will change it with another or fix it on the spot. You will get away with not putting on eyes but your strike rate will improve drastically with eyes. its a natural response from attacking fish if somethings fishy (already artifisial and no eyes) sometimes they will turn away from the lure. I am no expert maybe someone like Bennie could elaborate more on this.

eyes is easy, do a trip to the crazy store they have all sizes and not expensive at all. make sure you cover them properly with epoxy as they arent water tight. should last a couple of outings and then needs to be replaced.

One sugestion I have when tying your bucktail to the jigs tie them on the wrong way first(tail to the front) then double back and do your final tie. it gives it a nice rounded look where the bucktail meets the jig and the ends thats always a hassle to trim is not there.

Those are looking good!
A nice trick I was shown when tying bucktails with artificial materials, is to use half the width of material and twice the length. You tie down the material in the middle securely, so half of it is facing forward, then fold it over backward, position it and wrap tight. This means the material is anchored very securely and there is no need to trim around the head. Does not work so nice with real bucktail though.
Eyes are good and they are cheap from fly tying shops. Also, some nail polish in clear, glitter is cheap and adds a great finishing touch.

EDIT- Just saw Malboer suggested the same
"One sugestion I have when tying your bucktail to the jigs tie them on the wrong way first(tail to the front) then double back and do your final tie. it gives it a nice rounded look where the bucktail meets the jig and the ends thats always a hassle to trim is not there."